Back From Vacation

Okay, so, I am back from vacation.

Quite a trip! It was more busy than anything else! My son and I spanned quite a bit of the map in the few days that we were gone - from Kentucky and the greater Cincinnati area, than to Cleveland and up Lake Erie way to Buffalo, crossing the border into Canada to get a great view of the always beautiful Niagara Falls, which were spectacular as always. We also went up to Lake Ontario, although it was so hazy, that we could not make anything out. There was not enough time to really pay Toronto a visit, but I had been hoping for a glimpse. But all weekend long, there seemed to be advisory boards warning about the poor quality of air, and that may have had something to do with it.

Still, no tragedy. It was a very good trip, and besides, my son and I already have been to Toronto numerous times.

I will say that I was quite surprised with the distinctly Southern feel of Cincinnati. We actually stayed across the river, on the Kentucky side, so that was a bit less surprising than the city itself. Yet, still, I will admit that I was expecting it to be a bit like the only other former Confederate/Jim Crow state that I had been to - Virginia. I have never really been farther south than northern Virginia (at least on the East Coast), and that was part of the greater Washington D.C. area. It has more of a northern feel than anything else, and I guess the expectation was that the Cincinnati area would have a more Northern feel than anything else. After all, this was Ohio, right?

But it had a more Southern feel than anything. If northern Virginia seemed to be overwhelmed by the Northern influence of Washington D.C. and the areas above it, Cincinnati seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the presence of Kentucky and the Southern states below it. I was taken a bit by surprise.

Yet, it gave the trip a very distinctive, unique feel. Again, I have never really been far south, so this really made quite an impression on me. Hearing waitresses refer to Sebastien and I as "y'all", and hearing the thick, Southern drawl. Our hotel was in Florence, Kentucky. On many levels, this just made the trip very memorable, and unique. I have long wanted to take a tour of the South, and this gave me a bit of a taste of it. It was nothing that I had ever really experienced before.

Otherwise, there was the first morning, as well. I left later than I had wanted to, and so found myself trying to make up for lost time on Wednesday evening. I got to the Ohio border, and suddenly, felt much better. Drove perhaps for an hour more, before finding a quiet and relatively dark rest area. Too tired to go on safely, I decided to get a bit of shut eye, and it worked well. My back was not even really sore afterwards!

Woke up early the next morning, before the break of day, and after a bathroom break, we headed on our way. We saw the day slowly take over, and at some point, I took an exit and found a little side road by some farm area, and pulled over, so that we could watch the sunrise. It was only the second time that my son  had ever seen the sun rise, and it was my first time in a long time. It was beautiful, as the sun was a pinkish gold disk rising first through the break of the foliage of the trees, then rising above, and eventually breaking a strong and sunny day outright. It was a very nice way to begin the trip!

Of course, Niagara Falls was a highlight, and I always also love the Great Lakes, which are so vast, that they almost have a feel like an ocean, although they are not in fact that big.

All in all, a very cool trip, although now, I will have to try and catch up on some rest. It really was a lot of running around!

Hope all was well on your end during that time as well, dear reader!